for modernity of fashion, customs and emancipation from men. Ruan Lingyu ended up playing a role that was relatable to her own life. Ruan Lingyu committed suicide on International Women's Day (March 8, 1935) by overdosing on sleeping pills. Her suicide note apparently contained a line which says "gossip is a fearful thing" (人言可畏), although recent researchers have doubted the note's authenticity as it appeared to have been forged by Tang Jishan. Even China's preeminent intellectual Lu Xun was appalled at the details surrounding Ruan's death and wrote an essay entitled "Gossip is a Fearful Thing", denouncing the tabloids. Her funeral procession was three miles long, three women committed suicide during it and the New York Times ran a front page story, calling it “the most spectacular funeral of the century.” Ai Xia and Ruan’s real life suicides sandwich New Women’s fictional suicide from the film. The hardships experienced by women such as Ai Xia and Ruan Lingyu could be attributed to this cultural change in regards to “the woman question” at the time. As stated in Christopher Rhea’s “Chinese Film Classics 1922-1949”; “Ruan Lingyu has become a symbol of the glamor, romance, and unfulfilled potential of Republican China, and her story has been endlessly retold” At that time, female writers were respected in Shanghai. However, the rise of the status of women in society was perceived by some to be a threat to man's status in the family and in society. Therefore, females still needed time for society to adapt to the modernization and let others accept them. At the beginning of the 20th century, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Jiangsu, and other coastal areas were the first places where women workers appeared. Some women also raised money to set up shops and businesses to create opportunities for other women. Some industries even preferred to recruit female employees and paid equal salaries to female and male employees for the first time. Teachers and doctors were the first intellectual professions for women, and women soon appeared in banks and shops as well. They even found work as actors, writers, translators, and editors. Wei Ming in New Women, is like Ai Xia or Ruan Lingyu in that they are the products of this era. Music There were two important songs in the movie. One is called "Huangpu River", Aiyin's revision of "Peach Blossom River". This song was cut from the film in order to